ATHENS, Ga. – Cal junior Abbey Weitzeil showed off her sprinting ability in fine fashion Thursday on the opening night of the Georgia Fall Invitational, racing to the top time in the country in the 50-yard freestyle and anchoring the Golden Bears' best-in-the-nation mark in the 200-yard free relay.
 
In the 50 free, Weitzeil reached the wall in 21.46, a half-second ahead of runner-up Maggie MacNeil of Michigan, who came through in 21.93. The Bears had two other swimmers in the A final, as Amy Bilquist tied for sixth (22.44) and Maddie Murphy was eighth (22.50).
 
The 200 free relay kicked off the evening session and Weitzeil swam a blistering 21.05 anchor leg, which was nearly a second faster than any other anchor in the field. Murphy, Katie McLaughlin and Bilquist completed the Cal team, which was timed in 1:26.94.
 
In the 500 free, sophomore Robin Neumann placed fifth in the final, but she swam about a second faster in morning qualifying and her time of 4:39.90 puts her 10th on Cal's all-time list. The 200 individual medley also saw a Golden Bear crack the school's top 10 as freshman Alicia Wilson now ranks ninth with her runner-up finish of 1:55.77. Teammate Keaton Blovad was third (1:56.41) with sophomore Sarah Darcel fourth (1:56.51).
 
Sophomore Briana Thai, who qualified eighth on the 3-meter springboard in the morning, came through to place fourth in the finals with her score of 282.70.
 
The final event of the session was the 400 medley relay where Blovad, Ema Rajic, McLaughlin and Weitzeil took second to Michigan in 3:29.87 for the No. 2 time in the country so far this year.
 
Overall, the Bears produced three NCAA A qualifying cuts – both relays and Weitzeil's 50 free.
 
In the team standings, Michigan leads the three-day meet with 300 points, followed by Georgia (258), Cal (249.5), Virginia (168) and UCLA (138.5).
 
Competition continues through Saturday, with Friday's finals, which begin at 2 p.m. PT, streamed on espn.com/watch.